Early box-office tracking for the upcoming Amazon/MGM-produced “Masters of the Universe” is not good, with pre-sales hinting at a $25M opening weekend. That figure is obviously weak considering the film reportedly carries a whopping production budget of $200M.
A basic but crucial question: Who is this movie actually for? Is it meant to appeal to kids, who have little to no connection to He-Man, or to adults who grew up with the toys and cartoon? It turns out most of the early interest in “Masters of the Universe” seems to be coming from older male audiences who grew up with the franchise — but that demographic is not usually seen as a major driver of box-office success.
Anytime a film has this type of audience identity crisis, it’s worth flagging. A family movie needs clarity and accessibility. Right now, it’s unclear who “Masters of the Universe” is trying to satisfy. Is there even an audience large enough to care about this IP?
Notice that Jared Leto is part of the cast — he’s become something of box-office poison in recent years. It seems as though anything he’s attached to struggles to find an audience: from “Morbius,” which flopped, to “House of Gucci,” which underperformed, to “Tron: Ares,” which bombed. His involvement doesn’t automatically doom a film, of course, but in a high-stakes, $200M blockbuster like “Masters of the Universe,” it’s yet another gamble.
However, here’s a potential twist that could shake up these numbers: “Masters of the Universe” has actually been testing very well, which makes sense since it was directed by Travis Knight, who did wonders with “Kubo and the Two Strings” and managed the unthinkable by directing a well-reviewed Transformers movie, “Bumblebee.”
Hopefully, for Amazon’s sake, the current numbers can improve through strong reviews and word of mouth, but as it stands, the current outlook places the film well behind “Scary Movie 6,” which is projected to open with roughly $45M+ on the same weekend. Meanwhile, the $10M-budgeted “Backrooms” is tracking at $25M despite costing far less.
“Masters of the Universe” is set to be released theatrically in the U.S. on June 5.